The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to mechanisms for managing filesystem inodes.
In computing, a file system (or filesystem) is used to control how information is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, information placed in a storage area would be one large body of information with no way to tell where one piece of information stops and the next begins. There are many different kinds of file systems. Each one has different structure and logic. Each one has different properties of speed, flexibility, security, size and more. Some file systems have been designed to be used for specific applications. The General Parallel File System (GPFS) is a high-performance clustered file system that can be deployed in shared-disk or shared-nothing distributed parallel modes.
In computing, an inode (index node) is a data structure found in many Unix file systems. Each inode stores all the information about a file system object (file, device node, socket, pipe, etc.). It does not store the file's data content and file name except for certain cases in modern file systems.